FRISBEE by Paul Hostovsky

We are all attracted to suffering.

And repulsed by it, too.

This doesn’t make the world go round 

exactly. It isn’t a law of physics 

technically. But it may have something to do

with the relationships of bodies

in the universe. And also the atmosphere

of Earth. Which is where we all must live

for as long as we have left. For as long as we have

lift. And when you consider all of the plastic

found in the stomachs of dead seabirds—

bits of beach toy, medical waste, gnarled

cassette tape, whole flash drives, a red-striped

straw—it kind of makes you feel ashamed

of your own life. The way a seagull

rides the wind, oscillating, is almost as old

as the wind itself. What’s new is

the adult birds can’t tell the difference

between food and plastic, and they end up

feeding it to their young. It’s a wonder

they can fly at all. In particle physics

there are six different kinds of quarks

known as flavors: up, down, charm, strange, top

and bottom. We used to smoke a lot of pot

then practice throwing and catching them until dark:

forehand, backhand, overhead, under

the legs, behind the back and upside-down.

When my stomach hurts I go lie down

and try to think about something else.

But my thoughts always come back to the pain

as though it were a kind of home.

Paul Hostovsky's poems have won a Pushcart Prize and two Best of the Net Awards. He makes his living in Boston as a sign language interpreter. Website: paulhostovsky.com.